SIIA names top education market products

The Livescribe Pulse Smartpen and the Waterford Assessment of Core Skills (WACS) have been named the top products in the Software and Information Industry Association’s (SIIA’s) Innovation Incubator program, which connects developers of promising new education technologies with industry leaders and established organizations.

The Pulse Smartpen took top spot as the most innovative education product or service, and WACS won as the most likely to succeed in the education market.

The two winning technologies received the honors during SIIA’s annual Ed Tech Business Forum in New York. They were two of 10 participants in the organization’s Innovation Incubator program, which recognizes innovative start-up companies, nonprofit groups, research and development agencies, and academic institutions.

“We are truly impressed by this year’s line-up in Innovation Incubator participants, and by those organizations that received Innovation Incubator Awards,” said Karen Billings, vice president for SIIA’s Education Division. “The more than 270 industry executives who attended the Ed Tech Business Forum in person and online this year believe these organizations will help lead innovation in developing the technology-rich learning opportunities educators need.”

Livescribe’s Pulse Smartpen not only records handwriting using a special dotted paper and a tiny camera attached to the pen, but records audio as well, developers say. (See “Digital pens: Mightier than MSWord?“)

“The competition was tough, and there were many exciting new technologies presented,” said Holly De Leon, Livescribe’s vice president of K-12 sales. “[The Pulse Smartpen] is a low-cost way to put technology into the hands of every student and teacher in all subject areas. It will allow [students] to learn in their own unique way—we are just providing them with the tool to allow that learning to happen in a more efficient manner.”